California Gets Federal Clearance to Ban New Fossil Fuel Cars from 2035

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday granted waivers for two regulations in California that aim to reduce transport emissions, including one that will phase out the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles by 2035.

“Under the Clean Air Act, California is afforded the ability to adopt emissions requirements independent from EPA’s regulations to meet its significant air quality challenges”, the EPA said in a statement.

Adopted by the state November 30, 2022, the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) rule sets emission standards and raises sales of zero-emission vehicles for model years 2026–2035 so that all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in California are zero-emission by 2035. ACCII builds on ACCI, adopted 2012 for model years 2015–25.

“By 2035, all those vehicles must be zero-emission, which includes the option to sell plug-in hybrid vehicles”, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) said in a separate statement.

“The regulation does not ban fossil-fueled cars and pickup trucks; residents can drive existing internal combustion vehicles as long as they want.

“The regulation will save drivers of clean vehicles $7,500 in maintenance and fuel costs over the first 10 years of use. It also will cut harmful pollutants by over 25 percent, save lives and save Californians $13 billion in health costs related to respiratory illnesses”.

Under the other regulation, called the Heavy-Duty Omnibus, manufacturers must curb emissions of nitrogen oxides, or smog-forming emissions, by 90 percent. The omnibus requires an overhaul of engine testing procedures and further extends engine warranties, CARB said.

“The expected public health benefits from reduced illnesses and other improvements are $23 billion”, it said of the omnibus.

Ten other states plus Washington DC have indicated they would adopt California’s ACCII while eight indicated they would implement the omnibus, according to data on CARB’s website.

Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom said, “With more makes and models available than ever before, millions of Californians have already made the switch to clean cars”.

Zero-emission vehicles comprised nearly 1.35 million or 25.4 percent of vehicle sales in California in the first nine months of 2024, according to data on the California Energy Commission’s website.

CARB said, “The [EPA] decision is consistent with more than 50 years of precedent that allows California to implement innovative solutions to address its persistent air quality challenges, reflecting the cooperative federalism built into the Clean Air Act and the U.S. Constitution which preserves the rights of states to protect their own public health and welfare”.

The EPA said it had taken into account comments from different stakeholders including the industry. “EPA’s review found that opponents of the waivers did not meet their burden to show how either program is inconsistent with the Clean Air Act”, the federal agency said.

Responding to the EPA’s issuance of clearance for California’s fossil fuel car ban, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) said the regulation forces costlier vehicles on Americans. It added that California and the states that intend to adopt the rule are not on track to meet ACCII’s 2026 target, pointing to sales data from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation as of the second quarter of 2024.

“Contrary to claims on the campaign trail that they would never tell Americans what kinds of cars we have to drive, the Biden-Harris EPA just did exactly that by greenlighting California’s ban on sales of all new gas and traditional hybrid vehicles”, AFPM president and chief executive Chet Thompson said in a statement. “EPA’s authorization of the California ban and California’s ban itself are unlawful.

“These policies will harm consumers—millions of whom don’t even live in California—by taking away their ability to buy new gas cars in their home states and raising vehicle and transportation costs. They will also undermine U.S. energy and national security.

“Americans want nothing to do with gas car bans, EV mandates or California radicalism, which they just made abundantly clear at the polls. I suspect this is why EPA waited until after the election to issue this decision”.

The AFPM noted in the statement on its website that ACCI is being challenged before the Supreme Court and that should the court proceed to hear arguments against ACCI, “the Court could clarify the limits of the ‘California waiver’ under the Clean Air Act and put to rest the threat of California’s ACCII ban at the same time”.

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